Late Night Live - Separate stories podcast

Uncle Roger Knox joins David Marr in the studio for an hour of stories and songs: from growing up on the mission, to making his name in Tamworth, surviving two plane crashes, and singing the truth about frontier violence.  Guest: Uncle Roger Knox, Gomeroi Elder and musician; joined by collaborator Toby Martin Producer: Catherine Zengerer Sound Engineer: Tegan Nicholls, Harvey O'Sullivan

Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the USA, drafted the words 'all men are created equal', in the US Declaration of Independence. He wanted slavery to end, but mainly because he was deeply worried about slaves revolting against the white population.  He also thought the new nation would not be taken seriously if it was mixed race. He wanted to banish all black people from the US.  Guest: Nic...

The rules have changed. Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman's Regime Change takes readers inside Donald Trump's second presidency, arguing it marks the most sweeping expansion of presidential power in generations. Guest: Jonathan Swan, Journalist with New York Times and co-author, Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump  

In India, walking the streets can be a dangerous daily challenge. For decades, roads have been designed around cars and motorbikes, leaving pedestrians to navigate broken, blocked and unsafe footpaths. Now, India’s Supreme Court has stepped in, declaring safe access to footpaths a fundamental right. What does this mean for the future of India’s streets? Guest: Rishi Aggarwal, Founder and Director...

Ian Dunt joins David Marr moments before Reform UK's Nigel Farage announces his resignation as MP.  Farage is under investigation from Parliament's standards commissioner after not declaring a £5m gift he received in 2024 - before his election - from billionaire donor Christopher Harbornen. He is also facing questions about 'gifts' received from another supporter, convicted criminal George Cottrel...

The criminalising of homosexuality is being either adopted, or strengthened, in one country after another in Africa. That continent has the biggest cluster of countries with anti-gay laws - more than 30, out of 54 African countries, have made it illegal to have homosexual relationships, and in some cases, to support those who do. Guest: Larissa Kojoue, African human rights researcher with Human Ri...

Australia is home to one of the world's premier collections of ancient coins, held at The Australian Centre for Ancient Numismatic Studies (ACANS ), part of Macquarie University. Its new director celebrates its treasures, currently being digitised for the world.  Guest:  Associate Professor in History and Archaeology at Macquarie University, Director of ACANS

Where authoritarian leaders once coerced their citizens with brute force, they increasingly rely on public support through manipulation. Misinformation, conspiracy theories and exploiting existing fears are among the tools of trade. Guest: Assaf Sharon, Professor of Philosophy at Tel Aviv University. Co-founder and Senior Fellow at Molad: The Center for the Renewal of Israeli Democracy. Co-author,...

Liberal frontbenchers say a coalition with One Nation is not part of party discussions, amid a rise in the minor party's popularity. MPs are distancing themselves from remarks by Liberal Party president Tony Abbott, who linked migration to the "diluting" of Anglo-Celtic culture. Guest: Professor Mark Kenny, Australian Studies Institute, ANU

As the United States celebrates 250 years of Independence, what were the driving motivations of America's revolutionary leader - and first president - George Washington? Professor Colin G. Calloway details Washington's intense interest in land speculation, in the vast native territories west of the Appalachian mountains. Guest:  Colin G Calloway, Professor of history at Dartmouth College, author o...

Even before the North American colonies declared independence 250 years ago this week, they refused to take Britain's convicts. After losing America, the UK turned instead to Botany Bay. That's the story many of us grew up with. But a new generation of historians argues Australia wasn't founded simply to solve a prison crisis—it was the first expression of a more ruthless British Empire after the...

In the 1800s, 5,000 French farmers working in tiny urban courtyards grew enough food to feed two million Parisians with enough surplus left over to send to London. How did they do it? Why were farmers in the countryside starving, while Parisians could grow an excess of food on small lots in a crowded city? Kate Brown's book Tiny Gardens Everywhere looks at how small gardens often trumped large sca...

30 years ago (July 1, 1996) the Northern Territory became the first place in the world where eligible terminally-ill patients could access a medically-assisted death. Four people accessed the laws, before the legislation was scuttled at the federal level just nine months later. Today, the NT is the last remaining jurisdiction in the country yet to legislate on voluntary assisted dying. Guest: Mars...

Writer Charlie McCann takes us into the booming global trade in rare succulents and cacti, and the unusual subculture of people who hunt them. Travelling with a California plant collector and his companions, McCann joins a road trip deep into remote parts of Mexico in search of prized species like Agaves and Dudleyas, plants that can fetch extraordinary prices on the international market. Some col...

Japan's ageing population and declining birth rate have left its Self-Defence Forces facing a growing recruitment crisis. As security tensions rise across East Asia, the country is grappling with a widening gap between its defence ambitions and the shrinking pool of young people willing to serve. Guest: Tom Le, Associate Professor of Politics at Pomona College, California, “Japan’s Aging Peace: Pa...

Bruce Shapiro looks back at key points in the last 250 years of the USA's history ahead of its birthday celebration on July4. Plus a new Supreme Court decision means US President Donald Trump will have even more power to say 'you're fired!'  Guest: Bruce Shapiro, contributing editor with The Nation magazine and Director of the Global Center for Journalism and Trauma.  Producer: Catherine Zengerer

Italy’s countryside is like a giant garden, one that’s been carefully cultivated for thousands of years. But now a third of Italy is covered by forests – the most since the Middle Ages. But it’s no environmental win; much of the land being reclaimed by nature was once fruitful farms, abandoned as people left either for the cities or to start a new life abroad, including Australia.  Guest: Antonio...

Both France and Germany are switching from US tech surveillance company, Palantir to French firm ChapsVision, citing a need for digital sovereignty amid security concerns over sensitive data being easily accessed by the US govt. France is also moving away from all Microsoft platforms, preferring to use software they have developed and can control. The push to divest from Microsoft was accelerated...

Liberal frontbencher Melissa McIntosh says her party needs a rebrand after support for the Coalition hit a new low in the latest opinion polls. The opposition's primary vote in the latest Newspoll dropped to 17 per cent, after a week in which party struggled to respond to attacks on multiculturalism by One Nation leader Pauline Hanson.  Guest: Anna Henderson, chief political correspondent, SBS

An Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is once again drawing attention to the threat of infectious diseases. But a new report from the non-profit group, Resolve to Save Lives focuses on a different story: the outbreaks that never became major health emergencies. The Epidemics That Didn't Happen 2026 report, examines how countries were able to detect and contain diseases including Eb...

For many decades, Rupert Murdoch's global media empire has wielded immense power and political influence in Australia and abroad. A new book examines their tactics.  Guests: Matthew Ricketson, Professor of Communication, Deakin University Andrew Dodd, Professor in the School of Culture and Communication, University of Melbourne Co-authors of Getting Murdoched: How Murdoch’s Media Wields Power and...

Last month a company in Texas announced it had made an artificial egg, with the hope of bringing back to life extinct birds like the dodo. But there are perils with this new scientific realm of ‘de-extinction’, or reverse extinction. One is a concern it shifts the focus from protecting living species now.  Guest: Sadiah Qureshi, Chair of Modern British History, University of Manchester, UK. Writer...

After nearly five decades, United Nations peacekeepers are preparing to leave Lebanon, bringing one of the organisation's longest-running missions to a close. Established in 1978 following Israel's invasion of the country, the force has monitored hostilities, supported security efforts and helped protect civilians Who will fill the vacuum once the peacekeepers are gone? Guest: Ray Murphy – a forme...

Soccer fever is consuming the world right now, and for lots of Australians the game has a strong association with the many cultures who came to Australia in waves of post-war migration. But historian Dr Ian Sysan says soccer has been in Australia since before the Anzacs, and that as many as 4,000 Anzacs were soccer players. He is currently collating a database of the soccer-playing Anzacs and will...

Countries around the world are grappling with how to handle the cost of housing, providing health care for an aging population and how to fund the big infrastructure changes needed to deal with the poly-crisis of climate change, with the competing demands for spending on defence. These are the kinds of challenges renowned economist Mariana Mazzucato is focused on, and she’s convinced governments c...